I'm totally amazed at how the UK portion of this trip keeps evolving!

As I've mentioned on another thread, we've already booked a B&B in Edinburgh for three nights (Wednesday through Friday). The original plan was to fly Ryanair to Dublin on Saturday afternoon in order to be back there for our flight home on Sunday.

Well, a little while ago I was reading a thread that mentioned Ryanair's less than stellar reputation that includes canceled flights. That made me a little nervous as, of course, we don't want to miss our flight home! So I thought maybe I'd better check in to Aer Lingus flights. Well, it turns out we can get a flight out of Edinburgh early Sunday morning that would get us back to Dublin in plenty of time for our flight home (which I realized today doesn't leave Dublin until 2:20 PM) for only 5 GBP! And, since we're flying that Aer Lingus transatlantic flight later that same day, we may be able to waive baggage charges.

Besides the cheap flight, I think this really would be much more efficient use of our time. If we fly out Saturday afternoon, we're going to spend most of the day getting to/from the airports with very little time to spend in Dublin once we're there. Whereas, if we take the Sunday morning flight, we've got a whole extra day in Scotland. And we fly right into the airport that morning, not having to worry about getting to a hotel in Dublin and back the next morning, etc.

So now the question is where to spend that Saturday night. We thought about Glasgow. But we can't get a fight out of there Sunday morning.

I could try to book an extra night at the B&B. But I'm not sure I want to do that. We'll have to leave very early that next morning, before they serve breakfast. So there's not much point in being in a B&B. And, ideally, we'd like to be closer to the airport for such an early flight.

But the B&B we booked is 60 GBP per night (for two of us) Are we likely to be able to do any better than that? Can you use Hotwire in Edinburgh?

This has all sort of come out of nowhere and I'm wondering whether I'm missing some big, obvious pitfall. Or some obvious idea for another place to stay that last night. Any observations, advice, suggestions, etc. would be greatly appreciated!

There are a couple of hotels (a Quality Inn and a Hilton IIRC) very close to Turnhouse airport (and presumably with shuttles.) I suspect the rates will be tolerable, especially since a Saturday night is unlikely to be a peak demand period for business travelers. Probably more than 60 quid, but probably less than 100.

I would not gamble with Hotwire or Priceline if you need to be close to the airport early in the day - it's some distance from the central part of the city.

Hi CAPH52,

Kinda sorry to be a worry-wart, but I will throw it out at you .. what if something happens to the Sunday morning flight?

Even though you are flying Aer Lingus on the Sunday afternoon, the Sunday morning flight won't be on the same ticket, so a problem with the Sunday morning flight and the airline doesn't have to help you make the afternoon flight.

I think that is something the experts will mention. Myself, I would work on getting to Dublin on the Saturday. We'll see how others weigh in. Cheers!

60 GBP for a double in a city sounds pretty cheap to me. I'm not sure I understand your reasoning about not staying in a B&B because you won't be able to have breakfast. If you stay in a hotel you won't be able to have breakfast either.

I wouldn't move to a new location for 1 night unless you get a really great deal.

Thanks, Gardyloo. That's probably another good reason not to book the B&B for that extra night.

And perhaps the difference in cost between the B&B and the airport hotel won't be too much more than the transportation cost difference would be.

I'll definitely check those hotel web sites.

I definitely see your point, scotlib. But I guess I'm less worried about the Aer Lingus flight than a RyanAir flight (which is what we'd take if we left on Saturday). But I realize if there's a weather-related problem, it won't matter which airline it is.

Adrienne, the thing is, we only have the B&B booked through Friday so we'd have to try to extend the reservation. And what I meant about breakfast is that, if we could pay less for a place that didn't serve breakfast (which is sometimes the case with, say, a Travelodge), there'd be no point in paying for a B&B when we wouldn't be able to eat the breakfast anyway.

Thank you both. I really appreciate the input!

Aer Lingus flights can be delayed too, and the main worry with two flights on the same day is a delay. Delays are far more common, with any airline, than cancellations.

Thanks, willit. Actually, that makes me feel better. The morning flight is due in to Dublin at 9:20. As I said earlier, our flight home doesn't leave Dublin until 2:20. So that gives us a pretty big window.

Believe me, I know from experience that flights can be delayed longer than 5 hours. But, since Edinburgh and Dublin aren't <i>that</I> far apart, doesn't it seem likely that anything big enough (weather-wise) to delay that flight for that long would probably also delay our flight home?

I don't think so, because if it's a mechanical problem, for example, that's not going to affect the other flight. If one flight is delayed because of bad weather in Amsterdam or Frankfurt, that's not going to affect the other flight, etc.

I'd say that it's not a 5-hour delay you'd have to worry about, but more like a 3-hour delay. I agree the odds are in your favour, but the question is how much it will cost if you have bad luck that day.

True, willit. I see your point.

Well, if I do wind up booking the Sunday morning flight, I'll definitely call rather than doing it online. I want to ask about waiving the baggage fee. And I would want to ask them whether, since both flights are Aer Lingus, they'd move us to another flight if we missed the Dublin/ORD flight due to a delay of the Edinburgh flight.

I'm not sure I follow you about a three hour delay, WillTravel. Do you mean because of needing to be at the airport two hours early for an international flight?

I'm so sorry, WillTravel. I don't know where I got willit! Both of those responses should have been addressed to you.

Yes, I meant you probably want to be at the airport two hours early for an international flight. So if your flight were delayed three hours, and then you had a further delay getting off the plane (as sometimes happens), it could get dicey. Of course if your baggage is checked through that would help.

Okay, I just called Aer Lingus. She told me that I would want to call them when I'm making that booking so that they can cross-reference it with our flight home. And she said that, if we're delayed for the Aer Lingus flight home because of a delay on another Aer Lingus flight, they would rebook us on the next flight.

Now I realize that when you're dealing with a large company, what one person tells you is not always what the next person will tell you...

If I'd seen your response before I called, WillTravel, I would've asked if it'd be possible to check the luggage through. Thanks for bringing that up. I'll definitely ask if and when I do call to book the flight.

I flew this exact itinerary on Aer Lingus back in November and it went very smoothly, without a hitch. I wouldn't hesitate to do it again.
They were unable to check our baggage all the way through in Edinburgh but we didn't have to pay extra for having heavy bags (our luggage exceeded the domestic flight weight limit) since we were flying Aer Lingus transatlantic from Dublin.

Thank you, Liza! It's great to get positive feedback!

Hiya Caph,

I have an Edinburgh question for you---are you getting there June 17? We are LEAVING Edinburgh June 16th! Small world - maybe we will have to meet somewhere on State Street and compare our trip pics Is your son still in school here in Madison - Sophomore, right?

Signed, Your neighbor to the north........

Talk about "small world", Happy! Yes, we're arriving the 17th.

I think about you every time we go to Madison. It just never seems like there's time to do anything except run errands with our son. Oh, and eat a couple of meals in your wonderful restaurants!

But one of these times....Comparing notes and pictures on Edinburgh over a glass of Fat Squirrel would be fun!

So how long are you going to be there? Are you going anywhere else?

Oh, too funny. I went back to look at some of your last threads to see if I could tell what you were going to be up to and see that there is to be a WEDDING!!!!! How thrilling for your daughter to have found THE ONE and what special days they will be for you all. Wonderful!!

This is our plan - arriving London May 30, and tootling around there for a week. Then fly up to Aberdeen June 6 to visit castles and distilleries in the Grampian region (northwest of Aberdeen) and then 3 nights on Skye. We have two unaccounted for nights (probably Trossachs) before we get to Edinburgh on Saturday June 13th and back here to WI on Tues the 16th.

We are not going to cross path's anywhere, are we?? What is your schedule?

I can sure understand the busy-ness when you come up here to visit your son, but any time you do get a chance I would love to meet up with you. It is a shame we are JUST missing each other 6000 miles away.